PORTLAND, Ore. -- Shortly after the Detroit Pistons arrived in Portland, one of Rasheed Wallace's first stops was to his favorite restaurant Cafe Du Berry.

Upon entering he was soon greeted with a warm reception by the owner, the kind of greeting that would prove to be a precursor for how Wallace was treated by the fans at the Rose Garden.

They cheered when he was introduced. And when the final horn sounded the red-and-black clad crowd was still joyful after Portland's 102-94 win.

The victory was Portland's first at home against the Pistons since Wallace came to Detroit in the middle of the 2003-2004 season.

"They played a good game tonight," said Wallace, who had 15 points and six rebounds. "But in my opinion, I don't think they played a good enough game to beat us. We beat ourselves at certain points in the game."

And as far as suffering his first loss to Portland in the Rose Garden since they shipped him to the Eastern Conference, Wallace said, "I'm not sweating that. I got a bigger picture. My picture ain't just to come back here and beat them. I'm trying to get that hardware. They worried about making the playoffs, and beating me. I'm worried about that hardware."

The Pistons seemed poised to make another one of their all-too-predictable runs late in the game, which was tied going into the fourth quarter.

After three lead changes early in the fourth, Portland began to pull away when Sergio Rodriguez made a 3-pointer that gave the Trail Blazers an 84-80 lead, which matched their biggest lead of the game at that point.

It was still a close game, but the game's momentum had clearly swung in Portland's favor.

And to make matters worse, the Pistons had to play the final 6:35 without Antonio McDyess, who re-aggravated his sore left shoulder and is questionable for tonight's game at Golden State.

"It's hurting bad," said McDyess moments before having an magnetic resonance imaging test performed (the results were negative for structural damage).

Portland's lead steadily increased as the Pistons continued to miss lay-ups, short jumpers and 3-pointers.

Rip Hamilton was especially horrific as he missed 15 of his 20 shots from the field.

"I missed so many easy shots tonight," said Hamilton, who had a season-high 32 points at Seattle on Sunday. "I missed lay-ups, turn-around jump shots ... it was like that the whole game."

Pistons coach Flip Saunders went down a laundry list of areas that the Pistons struggled with Tuesday, from their inability to stop dribble penetration to the struggles they had with LaMarcus Aldridge (22 points, 10 rebounds).

"They totally outplayed us," Saunders said. "It was never one of those where you thought we had control of the game."

The Trail Blazers' control down the stretch was in contrast to the game's beginning, as Detroit came out playing well.

The first quarter was fairly close, with Detroit's lead peaking at 27-19 after a 3-pointer by Wallace.

Portland, which came into Tuesday's game having won three in a row, got a huge lift following an uncontested lay-up missed by Richard Hamilton.

With Detroit leading 38-32 at the time, Portland took the lead behind a 10-0 run to lead, 42-38.

The teams continued to exchange baskets, but an 11-6 run by Detroit to end the second quarter gave the Pistons a 53-50 halftime lead.

Several Pistons contributed to Detroit's first half lead, but Wallace's play stood out.

"It's not about big numbers with Sheed," Hamilton said. "He does so many other things out there that makes you win."

On most nights, Hamilton's right.

But on Tuesday, Wallace's efforts -- just like the rest of his teammates -- fell short.